Anna Akhmatova was a Russian modernist poet. Born during the czarist era, she was widely admired in both the USSR and the West, although her later work was condemned and censored by Stalinist authorities and she was under constant scrutiny and forced to burn or suppress some of her work to guarantee her safety.
I Taught Myself To Live Simply
I taught myself to live simply and wisely,
to look at the sky and pray to God,
and to wander long before evening
to tire my superfluous worries.
When the burdocks rustle in the ravine
and the yellow-red rowanberry cluster droops
I compose happy verses
about life’s decay, decay and beauty.
I come back. The fluffy cat
licks my palm, purrs so sweetly
and the fire flares bright
on the saw-mill turret by the lake.
Only the cry of a stork landing on the roof
occasionally breaks the silence.
If you knock on my door
I may not even hear.